Guilty Conscience
by Spankbending
Summary: The direct sequel to "An Ordinary Water Tribe Custom". Katara spanks Aang a second time, while his deep-seated feelings of guilt surface. A little bit of Sokka-Katara bonding at the end.


"Aang, if you apologize to me one more time, I swear I'm gonna make good on my threat!" Katara snapped as the Avatar implored her forgiveness for the tenth time. "My hands are okay, and I really do forgive you. Believe it or not, I mean what I say."

"But this is so much worse than what I did with the map. I really hurt you, I was so irresponsible and..." Aang persisted.

She growled and stamped her foot in frustration. "Yes, I KNOW, okay? For crying out loud Aang, I'm not deaf, I heard you before. I know that you're sorry, and you're really starting to get on my nerves." Katara was at her wit's end. The last time Aang had been this apologetic, it had led to an awkward situation that she still had trouble believing actually happened.

"But I..." he began again, and this time she covered his mouth with her hand and glared at him.

"Will you please shut your airhole?" she barked. "I don't care how sorry you are, you don't need to wake me up in the middle of the night to remind me!" She had never been so furious with him; she'd warned the boy adamantly not to have one of these guilt-ridden apologetic fits. Now she almost _wanted _to spank him. And she was beginning to wonder if his insistence on not obeying was his own way of asking for it.

"Katara, please don't be angry, I just feel so terrible about burning you," he said with a pout.

That was it. She had tolerated enough of it. Her hand flew through the air and popped his adolescent bottom very hard. Aang yelped in shock.

"Not as terrible as you're gonna feel in a minute," she promised. "I can't believe you've pushed me this far, Aang, but I think it's overwhelmingly clear that you need another spanking!"

The boy gulped with what looked like contrite terror, but said nothing. No whining, no protesting, and thankfully, no more apologizing. His cool gray eyes just looked up at hers imploringly.

Katara sighed as she resigned herself to the task at hand. She reached into her bag and grabbed her hairbrush, a simple one made of a whale tooth and polar bear dog hair. The handle was wrapped in seal leather. When she had promised to use this the next time Aang refused to accept her forgiveness, she had hoped it would be enough of a deterrent. Clearly, he would need to become a little more familiar with it.

She grabbed his wrist and led him away from the camp, out of earshot of her sleeping brother. "I don't know what possessed you to disregard everything I told you after your first spanking, but I guess I didn't get my message across."

The monk followed and whimpered, resigned to his fate. "I'm sorry KatarOW!" She popped him hard on his hindquarters with the brush, and his eyes began to water. "Oh, oh Katara that really hurts..." he moped.

"Good, then maybe it'll sink in that I don't want to hear any more apologies," she said flatly. Taking a seat on a nearby rock, she looked him in the eyes, which were now quite moist. "Just like last time. Down to your briefs and over my lap," she instructed.

Aang obeyed, though not with any enthusiasm. His wiry frame was lighter than air and not at all uncomfortable when splayed across her knees. Indeed, Katara almost had to admit it was like he was designed small enough for her to keep him over her lap.

She took a moment to look at the target of her chastisement, still covered by thin brown briefs. Katara had left them on last time for modesty's sake, but for some reason, she just knew that wasn't the way to go about this. Aang was being deliberately obstinate and disobedient, refusing to listen to her. So, without a second thought, she reached her thumb under the cloth and yanked the garment down his thighs, baring his nubile bottom for punishment.

"Katara!" Aang gasped in shock, sounding both mortified and terrified. For a moment, Katara's anger subsided as she took in the sight now on her lap, a struggling boy with two plump round orbs exposed and vulnerable. The blue tattoo that came down from the arrow on his head split just before his anus and each cheek was marked with a blue line in the center that went down his legs. He was cute. _Very _cute.

The waterbender tightened her grip around Aang's waist and raised the brush high. A moment later, the hard bone smacked against his left cheek, and Aang cried out. Katara swatted the other cheek, watching with bemused wonder as the almost milky skin started to glow pink.

A minute and then two dragged by, and Katara did not let up, quickening the pace of the swats until Aang was tasting bone every other second. He struggled in her grasp, kicking his legs violently in response to the scalding heat growing in his his rear end. Wails violently escaped his lungs as she soundly punished him, and very cold, very real tears swam down his face before falling to the grass below.

Flames burned inside Aang's buttocks and warmed his entire body, making it difficult to focus on anything but the searing pain. It was a small miracle he was able to choke back the flood of "I'm sorry!" that was desperately trying to leave his mouth. But he knew Katara did not want to hear it, and that in all likelihood it would make this harrowing ordeal even worse. So he instead poured out his sorrow with loud, heaving sobs and hopeless squirming.

Katara was amazed at how naturally this was coming to her, how easy it was to punish Aang when she was really upset with him. His crying stung her heart, no denying that. Yet it was not difficult to block it out and concentrate on painting every inch of his swollen cheeks a vibrant shade of red. She wasn't quite sure how to describe her determination and was at a complete loss as to why she found it so satisfying.

For his part, the Avatar's struggle was dying down. His powerful sobs became subdued whimpers, his thrashing legs settled down limply against Katara's. The fire was flaring brightly and he felt every second of it, and yet he no longer fought the pain but embraced it. After the initial shock of how horrible the brush was, Aang started to realized that some part of him had been hoping all along to get in this position.

The truth was, Aang was dealing with far more guilt than he could stand to put up with. Burning Katara's hands because of his foolish irresponsibility was horrible, yes, and it made his insides turn in revulsion just thinking about it. However, it was just another case of how his childish refusal to take his role as Avatar seriously had done so much damage to the world, damage he would never be able to repair. Aand deserved to be punished, desired to be punished, and his acting out was his desperate cry for that punishment.

Katara listened as he stopped bawling and started to tremble weakly. He covered his face with his hands and wept into them. These were not the startled cries of a child afraid of correction. Aang was sincerely crying tears of remorse, as if he knew what he did was wrong and that he deserved to be spanked harshly. Everything started to click with Katara as she realized how much deeper the boy's hurt must lay, how guilt-ridden his heart was over his many failures.

Aang _needed _this. Somehow, Katara just understood. Her response was a renewed vigor, furious smacks crashing down on his throbbing, scarlet bottom at an alarming rate. Convulsing wildly, Aang shouted at the top of his lungs, and began to beg for the spanking to end.

"Stop stop stop stop stopppp," he whined pathetically. "I promise I'll do better. I promise, just please stop. No more, I can't take it, stop," he sputtered.

Katara continued to chastise him, waiting it out until he stopped blubbering pleas for it to end. His body went limp once more and he just cried nonstop over her lap. Finally, she set the brush down. Aang was content to lay there and weep for several minutes.

Now acutely aware of how much her shoulder hurt, Katara rubbed and flexed it and began to feel a little guilty about pushing him so far. It had not been her plan to punish him so severely, yet somehow she could feel him demanding it from her. Was that gut feeling real, or was she making excuses for something she had, despite her attempts to deny it, found exhilirating and empowering?

But as the sobbing boy grew quieter and more still over her lap, doubt left Katara. Aang had submitted to her every command and taken his punishment without complaint for so long that when he finally pleaded for mercy, he had to have meant it. She believed that Aang knew his own needs and would find his own way to tell her what they were. For her part, she would do everything she could to provide for him.

Pulling his briefs back up, she carefully guided him off of her knees. Aang just collapsed onto the ground, laying his head on her lap. Tears no longer escaped, as perhaps there were no more left to be shed. He just lay there, sniffling, exhausted from what was the most emotionally and physically draining experience of his life. Katara instinctively carressed his smooth, bald head, and he moaned innocently, something that could only be appreciation.

"I love you Aang," she reassured him, speaking much more frankly than she normally would. "I can tell you are suffering, and it's not because of how sore you are." He shooke his head in agreement. "Whatever the hurt is, I am here for you. To comfort you, to help in anyway I can. If spanking you helps you deal with your pain, I will do that too."

Between sniffles, Aang managed to say, "I think I apologize to you so much because I'm compensating. I can't say sorry enough times to the world for running away. The world is like this because I'm irresponsible. Your hands were burned because I'm irresponsible. And I feel so worthless and so wicked and so..."

"Shhhh," she said, softly kissing his temple. "Aang, you are only twelve years old. Nobody should have the responsibility you have to bear. It isn't fair, and nobody can expect you to be perfect. You can't change the past. But you can learn from your mistakes and help make the world a better place now."

He nodded lazily, clearly becoming too tired to listen.

"You need to learn to forgive youself, Aang," she concluded. Finally, she helped him stand, though he still leaned against her for support. She guided him closer to the camp and laid him down against Appa's warm and welcoming fur. He fell soundly asleep withing moments.

Katara was now the one crying, and she dried her tears as she headed back to her tent. She was surprised to feel a hand on her shoulder, and turned around to see her brother. He was frowning sadly, and she knew that he was aware of the situation.

"How much did you see?" she asked, wiping away a new set of tears on her sleeve.

"Enough," he answered simply. "I heard Aang screaming, but when I saw why I figured there must be a reason. It wasn't easy to watch...hard to believe he's carrying all that shame inside of him."

Katara nodded and wrapped her arms around Sokka, leaning her head against him. What she wanted most right now was her father. To feel his safe, powerful loving arms holding her tight. But in this case, her brother would do just fine. He hugged her securely, rubbing her hair gently just as their dad did for them.

"I feel awful," she whimpered between sobs.

"Don't," Sokka told her, letting her go and looking her in the face. "Aang is hurting, but it's not your fault. He needed that. You did the right thing, and I am proud of you, Sis."

Katara nodded lazily and hugged Sokka again.

"Always knew you'd make a decent mother," he said, somewhat jokingly but she sensed the genuine appreciation. She grinned. "Of course, if you ever try to spank me, we're gonna have a problem."

Katara giggled in spite of herself. "You certainly deserve your fair share," she teased. He rolled his eyes but then half-nodded. She wiped her tears, still laughing. Very thankful for her brother, for being there and for always knowing the right thing to say, she looked up at him.

"Well, I guess if I have to do this again I won't have to be sneaky."

"Nope. Just don't let your newfound authority go to your head."

"Never," she laughed. "Love you, Big Brother."

He blushed. "Love you, Little Sis."


End file.
